City to launch new consultation process for Parc Jean-Drapeau developments

Mayor Valérie Plante has announced that all future development projects at Parc Jean-Drapeau will now be subject to a new public consultation process. The move is viewed as a response to the outcry over the controversial project to build a huge outdoor amphitheatre for private entertainment company Evenko on the island, which was launched under former Mayor Denis Coderre.

Construction for that project is ongoing, but has attracted criticism from South Shore residents due to noise and from conservationists because of the 1,000 trees that were chopped down for the project. Many members of Projet Montreal attacked the project before winning the 2017 election, but now that they're in power, Plante conceded that construction will continue.

"It's not so much about changing my mind, it's just that the trees are not there anymore," Plante said when speaking with reporters on Ile-Sainte-Helene. She was accompanied by Luc Ferrandez, the member of the executive committee responsible for the environment.

Plante added, "Something we've always been saying is that whatever development we want to do, we want to consult."

The consultation process will be formally launched in April, according to Ferrandez.

Quebec school boards ran a collective $141 million dollar surplus last year, but the president of the Quebec Federation of School Boards says given that the annual school board budget is $11 billion, the surplus is modest.